Looking back a year ago

Written August 1, 2014

How to Be an Explorer of the World:

Reflective Fragments after a Month in Writopia

1

It is when I am writing that I have felt most entirely grateful for myself.

2

My UW School of Education supervisor notified me on Facebook about the Greater Madison Writing Project Summer Institute.  I believe she participated in the Summer Institute two or three years ago.  After hearing more, I fell in love with the opportunity for teachers (who actually write!) to congregate for the month to think and work and write together. I know this experience has helped re-center me professionally and personally, as both an educator and writer.

In the future to draw potential applicants’ interest from out of the immediate Madison area, I recommend maintaining GMWP’s social media outlets. Also, I think it would be an excellent idea for the GMWP to host some kind of informational event, perhaps along with the October Revue, so potential applicants could learn more about and experience the Summer Institute’s camaraderie. 

3

I did not approach my GWMP interview like a traditional interview nor did I experience the familiar anxiety provoked by a panel of administrators at target practice.  I felt your expectations for the interview were very well communicated ahead of time. The interview was genuine and transparent in simulating the spirit and activities that take place during a day at the Institute. I enjoyed meeting the other applicants and beginning the conversations that are simply occurring within the climate of my school building. The Summer Institute gave me ideas on how to work towards changing this climate, on a grassroots level, by embracing the relationships I have with colleagues that are healthy and productive. 

4

While orientation day in May was overwhelming, I left with a clear understanding of how to best prepare for the Summer Institute, and I enjoyed meeting everyone and writing!  To me, the early May date was fine, but I would suggest not scheduling the orientation any later. Other than taking care of most of my reading, I was not able to work on preparing for Summer Institute until after school ended anyway, so I’m not sure trying to schedule the orientation substantially earlier would have made much of a difference to me.

5

I loved working on the multi-genre project and getting the chance to enjoy my colleagues’ projects; however, I think the five components should not be due and presented until the third or fourth week of SI.  I think sharing the pieces in two installments would work best, and would allow us to continue working on them throughout the Institute rather than rushing through them at the beginning. I would have liked to include more new writing in my multigenre project, but I wasn’t able to because I felt crunched for time and ended up revising old writing I had done prior to camp.

6

Preparing and presenting my teacher workshop was important to my practice and my audience because metacognition is at the center of learning, and if we can help guide kids in “knowing how they know” when they have had the opportunity to learn deeply.  My TW question, “How can students use growth portfolios to improve their writing and better communicate their self-assessment and learning?” has come to me organically through my evolving practice and exposure to my mentors’ work in the classroom.  In many ways, my TW is a description of my journey as a teacher this far because I now feel I am at a crossroads, as they say. I like to think the TW has helped me realize that the way in which I organize the growth portfolio system in my classroom is arbitrary, especially compared with the ways I would now like to change my writing instruction to better include modeling, dialogue journals, and conferencing in order to better aid students’ metacognition and self-assessment.

7

I have never felt so engaged in professional development!  Every TW was in some way applicable to my practice. I found no challenge in pulling practical and theoretical ideas from each TW, and I enjoyed our daily stimulating discussion. Reflecting on each TW with my table group by preparing formal feedback allowed me to better digest and synthesize the insights presented. Overall, the spirit of TWs is unique: rigorous, curious, joyful and precious.  I wish that this kind of professional development existed back at my school in Eau Claire.  

8

Joy is infinity condensed into a single moment.

9

______, _____ and I quickly formed a deep and trusting bond when sharing and discussing one another’s writing. I attribute the development of this quick friendship to the Writing Marathon! We did not use as many of the structured peer response guidelines you offered us. Instead, we read our work out loud to one another, asking for each other’s feedback related to specific questions we had about the piece’s intended effect or development.  I felt this was good for receiving and giving holistic feedback, and we definitely “blessed, pressed, and addressed.”  We also had many insightful conversations while walking through the gardens about what we were reading and discussing throughout the other parts of our day.  In the future, I would hope to join a writers’ peer response group that is perhaps a little more detailed orientated, and I have no doubt this group would have evolved into such if I had asked more pointed questions and if we had had more weeks together. Overall, I know I will keep in touch with _____ and ______ because in them I have found a home for sharing my work, and I hope they feel the same about me.

10

Writing leads to the idea; the idea does not lead the writing.

11

Sequencing is one of the writer’s most powerful tools.

12

I enjoyed meeting with two other small groups to discuss Wild Mind and the digital writing texts because it was enjoyable to share different perspectives on our GMWP experiences.  While I enjoyed reading and discussing Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind, I did not get as much out of my digital writing readings or discussion.  I think this was because I felt the readings were dated and my colleagues mostly wanted to discuss practical application when I was more interested in the theoretical implications of how digital writing is changing writing, audience and purpose.  I also think it was difficult for us to have these conversations since while at Institute we ourselves were not doing a lot of GMWP digital writing, Maybe this is something that can be expanded on or encouraged with future cohorts.

13

Choice time. I’ve written some meaningful pieces I knew I would not have devoted the time to otherwise if I hadn’t been given the opportunity to have daily choice time in the gardens. This time was sacred to me. Thank you.

14

Stop. And begin again.

15

Thank you to everyone who kept me so well fed. There is nothing that builds camaraderie like snacks.  I do think because of this, we should have taken more required group walks in the garden.  I think there should be a second Writing Marathon at the end of the session. 

16

Teaching is a subversive political act.

17

At this time I have not chosen to write an oath because I’m unsure what that means to me right now. I want to be involved as teachers unite and stand up for the good of public education. Many of my GMWP bid me adieu by saying, “I’m so glad there’s hope for the future and I hope there’s more young educators like you.” I am not an anomaly.

An Educator’s Sonnet

Dedicated to my mentors

It goes without saying, September through August, we care
for you, and the tunings of your wild mind. As your world
deflects logic and deviates from focus in a stippled blur,
we stand by: Admit confusion. Be kind. And above all,
listen, we advise you, but watch as you commit blooper after
blooper and then, snafu-eureka! A teacher’s work is in this glance
when you can still look back while also peering, eagerly, ahead.
Time travel, they say, is wasted on the young, who refuse
to adhere to any clock, calendar, or linearity. But who decided
365 days, just about 365, was the way to measure life?
A teacher’s work is in the gut, and we hope, not for agreement
or gratification, but to aspire, and convince you of the dignity
in lingering with an idea half-formed, or a sentence left
hanging, mid-thought, as the bell rings for next period.

18

 Stomachache moment.